Monday, April 27, 2015

The sun joined with over 3,000 people on Sunday to smile on this year's Tokyo Rainbow Pride celebration in Tokyo's Yoyogi district.

This year's celebration of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender pride was a two-day event: the Festa covering Saturday and Sunday, 25th and 26th April, and the Parade happening on Sunday, 26th April.

Main plaza of the Tokyo Rainbow Pride Festa, Yoyogi Park.

The Festa at Yoyogi Park was an all-weekend affair, from 11 am to 8 pm, and featured scores of stalls, including the trusty Google stall--a regular corporate presence at Tokyo Rainbow Pride--and those of marriage equality groups. The discussion and entertainment schedule was a rich and varied one, ranging from a drag queen show, to musical performances that included a Japanese drumming troupe, to talk events (including "AIDS Is Not Over"), and drawing enthusiastic crowds.

Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parade. Omotesando, Tokyo.

The Tokyo Rainbow Pride event this year was especially focused on marriage equality for LGBT people, given the groundswell in support for it around the world over the past year, and, in particular, the recent move by Shibuya ward to recognize gay partnership when dealing with Shibuya ward residents. Only last week, on April 19, a lesbian couple had a wedding ceremony in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward in an unprecedentedly public expression of gay marriage commitment in Japan. While the formal application to get the marriage registered was not accepted at the ward office, it built on the semi-official recognition already afforded the act by neighboring Shibuya ward.

A towering drag queen at Tokyo Rainbow Pride, 2015.

The Tokyo Rainbow Pride march on Sunday was, as always, a gleeful celebration of diversity. Participants filled the streets of Shibuya led by costumed revellers, waving banners, and generally being visible.

Setting off on the Tokyo Rainbow Pride Parade march, 2015.

JapanVisitor spoke to an organizer who expressed the hope that "with sexual minorities now starting to make their mark publicly in the world, we hope that Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade will continue to be seen not as a 'protest' against discrimination and a striving for visibility, but as a celebration not only of diversity, but of ever greater acceptance of gay, lesbian, and other sexual minorities, by Japanese society."

Saturday, April 25, 2015

I received a very welcome invitation from the New National Theatre Tokyo to attend the ballet La Chauve-souris, ("The Bat") an adaptation by Roland Petit of Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss II.

A hall in the New National Theatre, Tokyo, taken on an exploratory tour during the interval.

Written in 1979, La Chauve-souris is a story set to the music of Die Fledermaus, but featuring the kind of glitz and glamor that brought such fame to the eponymous troupe that toured Europe in the early 20th century.

The season for La Chauve-souris is very short, only five stagings, and I got to see the second one, held on Thursday, April 23, with Ayako Ono in the role of wife Bella, and Herman Cornejo playing her playboy husband, Johann.

The curtain rose on the thrilling spectacle of Bella poised center stage in a scintillating blue dress with a vast hem that occupied the whole stage, while a great circle of dozens of players, each holding its edge, slowly circled her. It was a spine-tingling opening that set the stage for the rest of the two hours, every minute of which lived up to this exciting first moment.

The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra was under the baton of Alessandro Ferrari, and played a spirited yet beautifully nuanced accompaniment to the drama.

The staging and props were superb: the ultimate in stylish simplicity, featuring in the main memorable use of defined light against large sections of darkness, and vivid, solitary splashes of aptly placed color, and optimal use of the vertical dimension to accentuate a sense of space, evoking the theme of "flight" behind the story. Even the most gorgeous scene, set in Maxim's nightclub, was a broad-brushed "blur" of golden splendor, free of any fussy distractions.

The choreography was spellbinding, drawing on traditional ballet techniques to enhance what were on the whole fresh, modern-inspired movements. The dancers moved as if blithely ignorant of gravity and friction. Particularly impressive was the clearly very athletic Herman Cornejo whose athleticism nevertheless came across less as strength than as magic as he saw to the soaring, floating, and gliding of the very elegant and poised Ayako Ono from stage, through air, and back, over and over again.

The dancing was infused with often prankish humor, as appropriate for a revue, and some whimsical gestures (the family eating is one I'll remember), yet never at the expense of its lilt and polish.

The costuming was what most harked back to the early 19th century roots of the ballet's name. Black, white, and scarlet a-gogo, either in smooth form-hugging lines or voluptuous skirts--tantalizing either way.

Verve, sparkle and passion held sway for two thoroughly enjoyable hours, enchanting a pretty much full house that couldn't get enough of it. It was ballet toffee, but of the most moreish, quality kind. On the train from Hatsudai to Shinjuku I could pretty much tell who'd just been to the show from the smiles on passengers' faces.

Friday, April 24, 2015

A Walk Around Kyushu
Day 60, Nagasaki Part 2
Tuesday February 18th 2014

After leaving the old Chinese settlement I head to the long line of temples spread along the base of the hills to the south of the valley. Known as Teramachi, it starts with Sofukuji, one of the main tourist spots of Nagasaki, a Chinese temple containing several National Treasures.

I had been there before, so this time I didn't pay the entry fee but contented myself with some photos of the unusual Chinese-style gate. The heavy rainfall predicted yesterday had still not arrived though it remained dark and overcast. Heading northeast along Teramachi short distance was the entrance to the next temple, Daikoji.

The entryway leading to an impressive gate was flanked by well-pruned and sculpted trees, but poking my head inside the gate I saw nothing that made me want to explore further. Next was Daionji, up a long flight of stairs. There was not much to see except the bell tower which seems to have been encased in walls of ochre.

Kotaiji, the next temple, was huge and really nice. Several plum trees, some sort of weeping plum I believe, were blooming which added to the scene. There were a fine pair of fierce Nio in there own gate and some more rather ornate statues of what I believe were some of the Shintenno, the four heavenly kings, also guardians.

With lots of ancillary buildings this is obviously a very active temple. Next along the road was Chosoji which did not look interesting so I passed by. Then it was Kofukuji. The oldest of the Chinese temples. There was a small entrance fee, and I had been here once before, but JapanVisitor wanted a write up of it so I went in and had a good look around.

Not as busy as Shofukuji, but intriguing nonetheless. There are a few more temples along the road but instead I head north across the river and the busy main thoroughfare towards the new Museum of History& Culture.

Just before reaching the museum my eye is attracted to a sign pointing down a narrow alley where I find the Museum of Santa Domingo. Comprising mostly of the excavations which reveals the foundation of an early Portuguese church and settlement.

Nagasaki was for a short while a Portuguese colony, and this is all that remains. Surprising and interesting, and best of all, free. I had heard good things about the new history museum in Nagasaki. It looks like the stonework of a castle, but unfortunately today was a closed day. I now headed back towards Nagasaki Station to complete my circular walk. A couple of hundred meters from the museum there was an impressive looking temple gate and I went in to explore and was completely surprised. It is a big, old temple complex, though it is in a state of decay. There was a few nice statues inside the structures, and behind the main hall a wonderful wall built out of recycled roof tiles and demon tiles and such.

The place was very atmospheric, as abandoned places often are, though it is not quite abandoned. There were no other visitors, which helped the atmosphere for me. Excited by having "discovered" something I head off to the place I had found when studying Google maps before I made the trip here. Fukusaiji used to be the biggest of the Chinese temples in Nagasaki. But it was completely destroyed by the fires that followed the atomic explosion in 1945. The new, concrete replacement is totally unique. The building is in the shape of a giant turtle!!!

Sticking out above the main entrance is a huge turtle head made out of aluminum and standing on the top of the shell/roof is a giant aluminum statue of Kannon. Though the building is made out of concrete there is still a Chinese feel to it. The biggest surprise though is that the temple is home to one of the biggest Foucault Pendulum in the world. Suspended from a cable that begins in the Kannon statues head and passing through the building to the basement below the pendulum shows the rotation of the earth.

A most unusual and unique building that is almost unknown to visitors to Nagasaki, but certainly worth seeking out. I have almost completed my loop walk by now and the threatened rain never did appear. On my way down the hill towards my hotel I stop in at Nakamachi Catholic Church. Built at the end of the 19th century, all that was left after the A bomb were the walls and spire and it was rebuilt in 1951.

On the outside it seems to have been modeled on the nearby Oura Cathedral. Inside is light and spacious with plenty of stained glass. After having visited so many temples and shrines in Japan over the years I know find churches quite atmospheric. Like Shofukuji and Fukusaiji, there is no entrance fee and little visited.
Tomorrow I head back to the coast and head down the Shimabara Peninsula and I should be back in Nagasaki in 3 days.

In 2014, a record number of children in Japan were victimized by social media. 1,421 children under 18 fell victim to acts of obscenity. That includes pornography, prostitution, and other forms of abuse.

Source: Jiji Press

Air Self-Defense Forces scrambled a record 943 times in fiscal 2014. As a result of intrusions into Japan's air space - mainly by China (464) and Russia (473) - Japan's pilots are on average flying three missions a day.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

A Walk Around Kyushu
Day 60, Nagasaki Part 1
Tuesday February 18th 2014

The weather is overcast and dull as I leave my hotel near the main railway station and head south on my one day exploration of Nagasaki. I've been here before, some years ago, and today I will be revisiting some places but also exploring some of the less visited sights.

Rather than take the busy main thoroughfare which is filled with the roar of 6 lanes of motor vehicles spewing fumes into the air I go a couple of blocks towards the water and take a narrow street that is almost just an alley but feels like a canyon.

Overhead a spaghetti-tangle of cables crisscross the sky like a web of a giant spider. My first stop is something called Dragon Promenade in the port area. It's a long, narrow, concrete warehouse running perpendicular to the water. The roof is a multifaceted membrane somewhat reminiscent of the geometry of stealth planes and boats and at the far end sits a huge, orange sphere. Steps lead up to the covered roof which is public space and I believe sometimes events are held here, but mostly it is deserted and seems a little run down.

Can't figure out the orange globe but supposedly the design of the building is meant to reflect the dragon used in the Dragon Dance at Nagasaki's Kunchi Festival. It is the kind of place I love to take photos. Almost next door is the new Ferry Building designed by Shin Takamatsu, an architect whose whimsical and geometric buildings are somewhat passe but again make for the kind of photography I most enjoy making.

Moored in front of the terminal is a ship I had not seen before, the Kanko Maru. It's actually a replica of Japan's first modern warship. Primarily a sailing ship she also had paddle wheels powered by steam. She was built in Holland in 1852 and served briefly with the Dutch navy before being given to the Shogun in 1855 whose government had recently "opened" the country following the return of Perry's Black Ships.

This replica was built in the same shipyard as the first Kanko Maru following the original plans. Last I heard she had been operating out of the theme park Huis Ten Bosch but maybe she is now based here.

A little further down along the waterfront I come to the Prefectural Museum of Art. When I first came to Nagasaki it was not yet fully built and hidden behind hoardings, but approaching along the canal the Prefectural Museum of Art is quite striking.

It is two buildings with the canal running between them and a connecting glass walkway between the two parts. The area along the canal is a public promenade with sculptures. Even though is is overcast the combination of glass walls and the water of the canal offer me plenty of photo opportunities. I forgo the opportunity to go in even though they just open as I am there.

Unless there is something specific I want to see in a museum or gallery I will often save myself the entrance fee, coming as I do from a country where entrance is free to most museums and galleries. Not far away is Dejima, the island where the Dutch traders lived in isolation during the Edo Period of Japanese history.

No longer surrounded by water but by city, it is somewhere else that was still under construction when I last came here. I do decide to fork over the entrance fee. It was interesting enough, though being a new reconstruction the newness of everything was kind of distracting.

From here its just a short walk to Chinatown. I'm not sure when the Chinese New Year was this year, but I seem to have just missed the festival that celebrates it here in Nagasaki's Chinatown as there are still some of the large, brightly colored floats used then sitting in front to the entrance to the shopping street of said Chinatown. I walk quickly through as I am not interested in the restaurants and gifts shops that to my untrained eye look just the same as at any of the dozens of Chinatowns around the world.

What I am interested in is the hillside behind Chinatown which is actually where the Chinese quarter, known as Tojin Yashiki, was located during the Edo Period. It is a pretty decrepit and run down area now, and I'm not sure how many Chinese now live here, but dotted around the area are some small shrine-temples built by the Chinese residents back then.

I'm surprised to find them made out of brick, and while they are not grand like the nearby well-known Chinese temples of Sofukuji and Kofukuji, which were built later for the Chinese community here, it's nice to see the statues and decorations which are most certainly Chinese and not Japanese. Next I head towards the line of temples flanked by the aforementioned Sofukuji and Kofukuji.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Oizumi is a small town north of Tokyo, in Gunma Prefecture, noted for its large Brazilian population. Of Oizumi's approximately 40,000 residents (which actually makes Oizumi the largest town [but not city] in Gunma Prefecture), close to 6,000 of them are non-Japanese. However, the majority of the this non-Japanese population is all but indistinguishable at first glance from the local population, being Brazilians of Japanese extraction who make up about 10% of Oizumi's residents.

The industrial history of Gunma prefecture is a long one, and before and during the war, Oizumi was the site of the Nakajima aircraft factory, which made fighter planes. After the war, the Nakajima factory became what is now the Sanyo and Fuji Heavy Industries factories, which are the main employers here, especially of foreign labor. The Ajinomoto Frozen Foods and the Toppan Printing plants also employ a lot of locals.

The non-Japanese influx dates back to 1990 when the Japanese government changed the immigration laws to allow foreigners of Japanese descent to work freely in Japan. At the time, the municipality of Oizumi, unable to make ends meet, was a subsidized body, and therefore actively recruited newly eligible foreign residents to come and settle there. The resulting population increase boosted tax revenues and brought Oizumi back into the black.

I visited Oizumi last Saturday with my partner, who is Brazilian Japanese, for an event his company was running there. It took about an hour and ten minutes from Asakusa Station in Tokyo. The Tobu line train took us to Ota Station (Ota City is adjacent to Oizumi) and it was a 15 minute drive to Oizumi from there.

The main street, Route 354, is little different from any main street in a small Japanese town, with an unplanned hodge-podge of old and not-as-old buildings—more or less concrete cubes—raggedly lining it. However, what catches your eye here are the numerous shop and restaurant signs in Portuguese, and the shops and supermarkets themselves, a lot of which stock only Brazilian produce.

While my partner was busy, I went for a neighborhood stroll with my camera and was pleased to find that once I left the main drag, the little streets behind were mostly rural (i.e., agricultural) in feel, and quite picturesque.

My first real stop was Nagara Shrine, which seemed to be the remnants of a shrine that had been chopped up by residential development. The main shrine was on the edge of a tract of land that could well still be the shrine grounds, but which is now used as a playing field. The only thing that readily identified it as a past or present shrine precinct was the big torii gate on the street side. A walk across the field, where two little boys were kicking a soccer ball, brought you to the tiny old shrine that was almost in a state of disrepair.

As I stood in front of it taking photos, an old woman walked by. I said konnichiwa. She greeted me back and said foreigners were a rare sight around there. We chatted for a few minutes. She spoke pretty good English. On my asking why, she said she'd worked on the nearby American base for a few years after the war. I looked at her with a question in my eyes, because she didn't look much over 60. "I'm 83, she said, going on 84." She'd lived here all her life, right behind the shrine.

While we were chatting, one of the little boys kicking the soccer ball would come up, yell hello and shake my hand.

I spent another half hour wandering the neighborhood. Rustic though it was, there was an element of modern industry in almost every scene: the garish green pick-up truck parked near the shrine, the small metalworks across from the market garden, the massive power pylons planted in fields and beside trees. But the stars of the landscape that weekend were the blossom trees, cherry, plum and one or two others I couldn't identify. The cherry blossom was just starting to fall and carpeted the ground like pale pink snow. And the plum blossom still on branches were like embers against an overcast early spring sky with its peeps and patches of ozone blue.

According to Amnesty International, 22 countries worldwide carried out the death penalty in 2014. The total number of known executions was "at least 607."

China, which is thought to execute in the thousands yearly, does not make public the number of executions it conducts.

Amnesty lists as death penalty cases those that have passed through a judicial system, in which an accused criminal is condemned by a tribunal for a crime, and then ultimately put to death by the state. Thus, beheadings by ISIL are not "counted."

Of those countries that do, Iran lead the list with 289 executions in 2014. Saudi Arabia was in second place at 90. Rounding out the top three, Iraq executed 60 of its prisoners.

The United States put 35 prisoners to death, and Japan hanged three of its death row inmates.

Saturday, April 11, 2015

The Kameyama Shachu Memorial Museum in Nagasaki is a restoration of the building that housed a shipping company begun by Sakamoto Ryoma (1835-1867), a prominent activist in the struggles to overthrow the Tokugawa regime in the 1850's and 1860's. Historians see the Kameyama Shachu (aka Kaientai 海援隊), Japan's first trading company, as a forerunner of the Japanese navy.

Money for the venture was provided by a wealthy Nagasaki businessman, Kosone Kendo and the powerful Satsuma han (present-day Kagoshima Prefecture). The shipping company was meant to circumvent the Shogunate's trade blockade against its enemy Choshu (present-day Yamaguchi Prefecture) and its main activity seemed to be running guns and ammunition into Japan.

Although the Japanese style house and garden is a very small space, just 10-, 8- and 3-mat tatami rooms, it attracts a large number of keen Ryoma fans who make the pilgrimage uphill to the museum every day.

On display are a number of the great man's personal effects including his haori - a traditional kimono jacket which his family crest (mon) on the chest. There is also a secret mezzanine floor reached through the ceiling if the occupants needed to hide from any shogunal spies.

The Kameyama Shachu Memorial Museum is a 15-20 minute walk from the Kokaido-mae tram stop close to Kokufuji Temple. The walk up to the museum has a number of plaques detailing the lives of the men who were active during the Meiji Restoration period when the Tokugawa Bakufu was eventually overthrown and replaced by the Meiji government.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Does everybody go to Nara? I think so. The UNESCO World Heritage Site, comprised of eight temples, shrines, and ruins, is a historical treasure. Do visit!

Now that I've said that... let's talk about when it RAINS. As a tourist, you may have a prescribed itinerary and if the day brings rain, a person just has to make the best of it, come what may. I think that's a good attitude. Rain does discourage some visitors and the crowds may be a bit smaller; however, since the historic buildings are a distance from each other, you will be spending a great deal of your time out in the steady downpour protected only be your new pal Mr. Umbrella. Keeping dry can be a challenge, especially in the matter of feet. So be advised, and be prepared. Also it can be cold, so don't forget that.

My daughter has been to Nara twice, once on a sunny day and the other time (when I was there) on a rainy morning. Southern California receives sparse rainfall, and we inevitably have to search the closets for an umbrella when the skies do open up.

At Nara we had umbrellas we purchased in Japan - those 300 yen clear plastic ones - and they were sufficient. It was bit chilly, but nothing was as terrible as having our sneakers completely soaked through. Might I say "Aaarrgh." We managed to see the great Todaiji Temple and witnessed those ubiquitous deer - and saw the warning signs regarding all the possible deer behaviors one could encounter.

After our visit, which ended up being shorter than planned (read: I need to go back to Nara someday to see everything) we climbed onto the bus and took it somewhere, I don't know, I never know, and ended up at a Vie de France cafe for hot coffee and a sweet roll. Back at the hotel, I spent a very long time using the hair dryer on four soggy sneakers.

Tuesday, April 07, 2015

When one looks at what is considered nowadays to be traditional Japanese culture one can see that much of it is derived from three main sources, firstly the elite culture of Heian Period aristocrats: the poetry, the costumes, the ceremonies and pageantry of Kyoto, etc. Secondly, samurai culture: the zen arts of tea ceremony, Noh theater, the castles, martial arts & ninja etc, and finally the urban culture of Edo: Kabuki, Ukiyo-e, etc.

Though these traditions have in modern times spread to larger sections of the population, historically they were not the culture of most Japanese. Most Japanese were not the aristocracy, samurai only ever made up about 10% of the population, and while in the Edo Period Japan was one of the most urbanized countries in the world, the vast majority of Japanese until very, very recently did not live in towns or cities but in the countryside, where the traditional culture is currently fast disappearing.

The countryside is also difficult for tourists to visit, neither having convenient transportation nor tourist infrastructure like hotels and English information. So that brings me to this book, which lavishly illustrates with great photos much of the traditional culture of the Japanese countryside.

With the stunning photography the book could stand as a coffee table book, and for many it will serve as a rich repository of ideas for interior and exterior design projects, others may find it awakening a desire to get out of the city to a life more hand-made.

The book is divided into four sections, though there is much overlap between the sections, the first being the architecture of the farmhouses, and the emphasis is on thatch. There are still plenty of thatched houses lived in throughout the countryside, though far more common, but not pictured here, are the thatched roofs protectively covered with tin. Thatchers still exist, I have seen more than a few structures being re-thatched, but so many thatched roofs are returning to the earth where they came from like so many traditional buildings.

The objects to be found inside rural homes are also extensively covered, not just the crafts and tools, but the kinds of things people collect, like dolls, fans, masks etc. The raw materials of country life are well covered: wood, stone, bamboo, paper, and of course the perhaps pre-eminent raw material - rice straw, from which more things can be made than you could possibly imagine.

Of course food is covered, as the countryside is after all where much of it comes from, and several recipes are included. If there is one color that is representative of the Japanese countryside, then that color must be indigo, the plant-based dye that colored what people wore, and the other uses made of the home-woven fabrics like noren, though in fact there are several hundred distinct and named variations of the color many of them found gracing the wonderful photos throughout the book.

The book is a celebration of a culture and tradition that is fast disappearing, and so there is, as with much of what is now classed as tradition, a tendency to romanticize and idealize, but it is still a living tradition kept alive rather than one being revived.

Most of the people in the book are elderly and will not be around too much longer, but they are living the only life they have known. Hopefully the book will inspire visitors to venture out from the crowds and concrete of cities like Tokyo and Kyoto and seek out what remains of the traditional culture of the people of Japan rather than the "Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous" that constitute so much of what is considered traditional Japanese culture. Oh, did I mention the fantastic photographs?

Acquiring skills is a constant theme of life in Japan - as it is anywhere, but it comes with the added aura of "mastering a way," the word hōhō or yarikata (やり方) often being used for "way/method." Hōhō (方法) is a slightly more abstract meaning, while yarikata has a somewhat more hands-on feel.

Mastering a hōhō or yarikata enables the individual to provide others with goods or services, and thus be of use to society. And while Japanese culture has a strong vein of feting those who are to all intents and purposes useless to society because they have no desire to master anything (monogusa), the conventional ideal is of an individual who only has worth when working for the good of all, adding value by practicing, and further polishing, his or her mastered skill.

Skills attained, or even innate, are called tsuyomi (強み) or chōsho (長所), and the opposite—a weakness, failing or shortcoming—is a jakuten (弱点) or tansho (短所).

One good way to spark conversation in Japan might be to ask what the other person is good at or strong at: Tsuyomi wa nan desu ka. And once you get to know someone better, you might even want to reveal one or two of your jakuten: the more kawaii the jakuten the better!

Monday, April 06, 2015

The Nagoya Players kick off their 2015 season with performances of The Club, a 1970's boardroom drama written by Australian playwright David Williamson and given a modern twist in this production.

The cast includes Michael Kruse as committe member Jock Riley, Dan Pousson as club captain Danny Bower, David Alcock as coach Laurie Holden and Ritchie Croan as star player Geoff Hayward.

Performances take place at Himawari Hall in Marunouchi (nearest subway stations are Marunouchi Exit 4 or Hisaya Odori Exit 1):

April 10th at 7pm
April 11th at 1pm and 6.30pm
April 12th at 1pm and 5pm

The show will be performed in English, with subtitles in Japanese. Pre-sale tickets are 2000 yen

About the Nagoya Players
The Nagoya Players are a well-known English-language theatre company with more than 30 years of experience in entertaining Nagoya audiences. Founded in 1975, The Nagoya Players represent a mix of natives of the Nagoya area and the local foreign community. They have been featured in print, both locally and nationally, and on radio and television. The Nagoya Players have presented a range of genres. For more information about the theatre company, visit nagoyaplayers.info.

Friday, April 03, 2015

A Walk Around Kyushu
Day 59, Kashima to Konagai
Monday February 17th 2014

Rain is in the forecast for today so I head off as soon as it is light hoping to minimize the amount of time I have to spend walking in the rain.

I find the first pilgrimage temple of the day easily enough on a main road to the south of the town. Rengo-in, temple number 63, is quite a small temple but the main hall has a thatched roof. Though it's early, the priest's wife is out cleaning and she invites me behind the main building to a newish concrete "treasure house" which she unlocks and lets me in. Inside is arranged as an altar with a group of obviously old statues, the large central one dating from the 12th century.

Temple 62, Tanjo-in is a few kilometers down the same main road though I miss it first time and have to backtrack as the rear of the temple complex is on the main road, the entrance being "behind" and I didn't see it.

Tanjo-in is much larger with quite a few low buildings with gardens between, though they seem somewhat unkempt. There is no-one around so I can't see inside.

The main road continues east towards the Ariake Sea and my route heads down the coast towards Nagasaki, but first I make a detour. 5 kilometers south is Yutoku Inari Shrine, one of the three top Inari shrines in Japan and though it will be a 10km detour I can't really be this close and not visit.

Part way down the road my eye catches a rather unusual stone gate so I head over to investigate and find an information board. This is Fumyo-ji, a quite large temple with extensive grounds and so I head in to explore. The path does two 90 degree turns and passes by two ponds before the bell gate comes into view. It looks like no-one has done any upkeep in years. The whole place looks and feels abandoned.

Many temples and shrines, especially in rural areas, are no longer inhabited and look deserted, but there are usually signs that someone comes in at times and does some upkeep, but here it truly feels as if no-one has been here in ages. It must have been grand in its day. Apparently it was built by the local daimyo as a family temple and is a copy of Manpuku-ji, the first Obaku Zen temple in Kyoto.

I poke around but there is little to see except a large hanging wooden fish, a traditional temple bell. Back on the road towards Yutoku Inari and there is still none of the forecast rain. As I get closer to the shrine the valley narrows and more signs of tourism appear, and the final approach is along a narrow lane lined with shops selling tourist souvenirs much the same as at any other major shrine or temple.

The shrine itself is quite impressive. The main building is perched about 5 or 6 storeys off the ground, supported by a lattice of concrete though it must originally have been wood similar to the famous Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto.

From the top the view over the valley shows a series of paths and viewing platforms on the opposite side that would, I think, offer spectacular views of the vermillion shrine against the green mountainside. Pleased that it still hasn't started raining I run around and explore and take lots of photos. Then it's back up the road the way I have just come from.

Once back at the main road I am in Hizenhama, home to an Historic Preservation District of old buildings. There are a bunch of sake breweries and apparently sake tours are popular. It's quite nice to see historic areas not gentrified and made twee like in Kyoto or Kurashiki. Exploring down a side alley I find a "samurai" house. Large and thatched, it must have been a high ranked samurai. There is free entrance so I pop in for a look see.

On the other side of the river is an area of lower class houses and there is a group of three very small homes that have been renovated. It is nice to see something that is not of the upper classes as most historic buildings are. I finally reach the coast and start to head south.

I had walked up the coast on the opposite shore, but it is not visible in the haze. The water is mirror flat and poles stick out of the water holding nets. Finally the threatened rain begins and I press on quickly. The rain increases. The forecast for tomorrow is heavy rain all day so I decide to hop on a train into Nagasaki as I figure the city will be more comfortable on a rainy day than walking down the coast. A few kilometers before I reach the station at Konagai I pass into Nagasaki Prefecture, though I didn't notice it with my head down.

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

My favorite Taiga Drama remains the 2000 production, "Aoi Tokugawa," and when I first traveled to Japan I wanted to visit Zozoji Temple, site of the Tokugawa Mausoleum.

I remember passing through the gates, noticing the pine tree planted by Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United States, and then seeing a cat - a friendly orange feline with a curled tail. It followed us toward the temple.

I looked around, wondering where the cat had come from. Where there houses nearby? Who did the cat belong to?

Well... I have come to Japan many, many times since then. I have seen a lot of cats and I gather there is a problem here regarding stray animals. Cats are dear to my heart and my own six felines are all rescues.

In the past I volunteered at a cat rescue organization in the USA, but now I want to help homeless cats in Japan. I make a monthly donation to the Japan Cat Network, located in Fukushima, but a Google search will yield results for many such organizations in Japan. If you would like to help, I hope you will check them out. Here's hoping all my feline friends find safe and loving homes!